It was my second Rosh Hashanah as a married woman, and I decided that I actually wanted to cook something. If you know my history as Queen of Take-Out, you understand the magnitude of such a decision. At that stage, I was beginning to fill the cooking void in my soul, and I wanted to try something fancy. I made wontons filled with ground meat and dropped them into my chicken soup. So beyond the traditional matzo ball, I thought happily. And I had a good measure of beginner’s luck too, because it actually worked. everyone oohed and ahhed as though I had produced something truly exotic.
Well, as life moved on, my head got filled with so many other things and I forgot all about that little success. This memory just slipped my mind until now. Now that I am more experienced, I realize how many things could have gone wrong.
Anyone who has tried to fill a wonton knows that the trick is keeping it from bursting open. The last thing you want is that filling spilling out. I’ve progressed so much since my newlywed days, and thanks to prepared wontons, that come in both square and round shapes I’ve had about as much fun as a person should experimenting with every technique for keeping that filling in place. Oh the wonder of it all!
So here’s my most important wonton tip: an egg wash really works best to seal the wontons. When you use the egg wash, don’t completely soak the wonton; just a light brushing will do the trick. Also, press the air out around the filling so there’s no extra space between the filling and wonton. Press very firmly (using a fork also works well). My recipe testers and I used all of these tricks on these recipes and not a single one leaked! What simchah!
Here are 26 recipes using wonton wrapppers that I know you will enjoy. I found something for everyone, there are dairy recipes, there are meat recipes, there are Asian, there are Jewish there are Italian, there are even desserts! You can do so much with these wrappers.
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